Health for All or Health for Some? Healthcare Provisions and Financing in Bangladesh and India : A Comparative Analysis

Bangladesh and India have experienced significant improvements in both public and private healthcare delivery services. Mother, infant, and child mortality rates have dropped significantly, many acute diseases have been successfully reduced to a minimum, total fertility rate has also been arrested. A number of high-tech private hospitals are operating in both countries to provide world-class healthcare services. As an outcome, life expectancy in Bangladesh and India has increased significantly. Despite these improvements and both governments’ determined efforts to provide quality healthcare services for all, questions remain: do healthcare systems and financing in Bangladesh and India ensure accessibility, equity, and universal coverage? Does the noticeable growth of private, high-tech, and expensive hospitals further push away a vast majority of the middle class population from seeking healthcare services? What are the contemporary challenges that Bangladesh and India face to address changing disease patterns from acute and chronic conditions? Do these countries spend enough to ensure quality healthcare services for their populations? This paper is an examination of these questions. The main objective is to explore the reality behind the rhetoric: do both governments’ vision and mission towards 'health for all' in terms of healthcare provisions and financing support the reality?